An Interview with a Vietnam Veteran

Bang! Bang! Bang! - The sounds of a .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle slowly bringing a burglar to the ground. When Harold was 14 this was the beginning of his path to becoming a veteran. He was babysitting his younger brother and sister as a burglar broke down the door. The burglar was armed with a crowbar, so Harold ran to the nearest rifle in order to protect his siblings. He shot the burglar 8 times with a .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle. The man died of his wounds in the hospital the next day. Killing someone affects the psychology and life of anyone, but it has an especially great influence on the minds of the young.

After having killed a man at the age of fourteen, Harold was sent to a reform school out of the city. The idea behind this was that Harold would be away from the city, and he would learn to be able to cope with what had happened. This worked fine for three years until Harold found a way to get out; a way to leave the life of reform school behind. At the age of 17 Harold signed up for the marines. He was underage but if a "parent" was to sign his enlistment papers this fact would be overlooked. Harold found a parent that day to sign his papers and came back to the enlistment office with parentally signed enlistment papers.

This sent him to a Marine Core Training Camp. He said that the techniques used in training were akin to brainwashing. The rigorous military training system made him dependant upon a team, and caused him to no longer look at his self as an individual, but instead as a piece of a team. At that time, he didn't know that later in his life, this training would come back to haunt him as he tried so desperately tried to integrate with society again.

After being trained in the marine core Harold was sent to perform "training" missions in Indochina. He trained aboard the Iwo Jima and the Alamo. These ships were training the marines in very close proximity to Cambodia. Occasionally, he would also make trips onto Cambodian soil. He served in his training missions as a machine-gunner, and at a later time as grenadier.

Harold did not know that returning a Veteran was one of the greatest afflictions someone could suffer. Upon his retire he attempted to go to college and major in law enforcement. Within the first week, he found out that integrating with an academic society was near impossible with his history. He was kicked out of his college and told not to return; this veteran would not be trained in the civilian arts. He turned to alcoholism and drugs in order to escape from his reality.

Harold found a job unloading trucks. He worked this job for a long time, but was very careful to take time off every week to donate blood. He quoted "At that time, blood was the most valuable thing in America". When I asked why he said this he replied, "Because after you see a man bleed to death you realize how much they need blood". I found this particularly shocking because I could not imagine witnessing somebody die slowly and painfully.

After 2 years of unloading trucks, Harold moved into the construction industry. He learned the trade of pouring concrete, and worked on building many of the great buildings in Seattle. He said that many of his coworkers were also veterans. That is because at that time the construction industry was still quite risky and unregulated; the veterans sought out the risky jobs.

After years of working Harold realized that he was more likely to get a job if did not put down that he served in the military as a veteran. He burned his duffel-bag full of military fatigues, and quit telling people that he was a veteran. He tried avoid the Veteran's treatment that he received by removing the evidence.

After a few years of working construction Harold became lured into a life of crime. There simply was not enough money for him in construction. He had joined a motorcycle gang and participated in a number of illegal activities. These activities allowed him to use the skills that the military had taught him in order to make a significant amount of money.

This lifestyle was somewhat abrupt as an accident soon left this Veteran fully disabled. This was to be the first of many accidents that happened in this young man's life because of his life of crime.

He spent two years recovering from this accident, and was left fully disabled. Now, he is 57 years old, walks with a cane and has almost no short term memory. The doctor's do not allow him to lift more than six pounds, and he can not perform simple arithmetic. Despite his lack of any academic schooling, he dismissed the Tonkin Gulf Incident as an excuse to start a war. He said that he had heard a rumor that two CIA officials took over the sonar reporting station before the report of torpedoes being fired. I find this shocking because I knew from my history book that the incident was reported by purely electronic means.

When asked his impression of the reasons for the war. He replied, "Marines do not analyze or wonder why. They just like to do or die. The strategy is for someone else to decide: Someone with more political knowledge. I make it a point to not even watch the news. If they tell a marine to do something, he will do it. Marines do not cut and run. They will hold the line, and do what they are told." This clearly states that he did not understand or care about what or why things were happening how they did. He was just doing his job. When asked if we could have won the war, he told me that we had accomplished our purpose. His theory was that we were using Vietnam to keep China and Russia's hands tied so to say. He said that Vietnam was as far away from our backyard as you can get, so keeping the enemy nations occupied there would be the most beneficial to us. He also noted that Vietnam was "a fun place to try out new weapons". And he summed this all up when he said, "If you put two bullies on the same block, they will fight sooner or later".

Harold said that the war destroyed families and lives from most people involved in it. The "lucky" ones that returned from combat unharmed could not reintegrate into society. Many are still "living" in the war. They returned to countrymen that hated them, and isolated them as baby-killers. Many had put their life on hold for two years, and when they got back their life was no longer there.

Harold's story and views are paralleled by many Veterans of that era. He felt as if his country had let him down by not allowing him to reintegrate into society; society has now labeled him as a deranged lunatic. He feels that America should stop being "the world's police force", so that the next generation doesn't suffer from the phantoms (veteran's) of society.